Scare tactics fear over TV 'Spooks'

Sunday 1 June 2003 03.22 EDT
First published on Sunday 1 June 2003 03.22 EDT

The new series of the highly successful television spy drama Spooks will so closely mirror current terrorist fears that the BBC and writer Howard Brenton have defended themselves against charges of scaremongering this weekend.

The series will include an episode in which an extremist Muslim cell, based in a Birmingham mosque, hold an agent captive as they plan a campaign of violent terror on mainland Britain. The final episode will also feature a full-scale alert at Westminster when the MI5 team led by Matthew Macfadyen has to deal with a suspected 'dirty bomb' or poison gas explosion in Westminster.

Both episodes were written by playwright Brenton, best known for the controversial 1980 play The Romans in Britain and his work with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court Theatre. 'It is extraordinary really,' said Brenton, 'because this series was written early last year but it is about a series of potential public events that have been dominating the news.'

The final episode will embrace the kind of worst-case scenario that has been at the centre of recent political debate, but Brenton says he was drawn to the idea of a bombing that takes out both Downing Street and Buckingham Palace, because of its dramatic potential.

But spokesmen from the British Muslim community are alarmed. 'It is sad the BBC is doing this,' said Dr Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, of the Muslim Parliament. 'We are trying to condemn this kind of involvement in our community...to keep on making us look responsible for these crimes is just manipulation.'

The BBC said of the new series, which starts tomorrow: 'It is not about scaremongering, but accurately reflecting the world we live in.'